Troma-tic Filmography / Independent studio specializes in the best of schlock

Mick LaSalle, Chronicle Staff Critic

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, March 28, 1999

Troma is one of the oldest independent studios in the country, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The New York-based studio makes and distributes a line of low-budget genre films, mostly action and horror pictures.

Some are notorious -- for example, the extremely violent "Bloodsucking Freaks" (1978), which Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman says is "the only movie that, if it came along today, we would walk away from." Others such as "The Toxic Avenger" (1985) have enjoyed both popular and cult status.

"Troma's films are schlocky, but very entertaining schlocky," says Ray Boyda of the Pleasant Hill video store Einstein Entertainment, which stocks a wide assortment of Troma films. "The movies don't take themselves seriously, and they definitely keep your attention."

Recently, Kaufman published a memoir, "All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned From the Toxic Avenger" (Berkley Books). He is in postproduction for "Terror Firmer," in which he stars as the director of a low-budget film.

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Speaking by phone from Yubari, Japan, where he was on a panel of a film festival (sharing honors with Leslie Caron, of all people), Kaufman recommended 10 of Troma's greatest hits. The titles are all available on video and DVD, though for the harder-to-find titles one may have to call (800) 83-TROMA or visit www.troma.com.

1. "Tromeo and Juliet" (1997): "It's our own spin on the Bard, but with all the car crashes, dismemberments and kinky sex that Shakespeare wanted to implement but couldn't. It has piercings, head- crushing -- all the things that made Shakespeare great."

2. "The Toxic Avenger" (1985): "It's about a hideously deformed creature that emerges out of toxic waste. He's also the first superhero from New Jersey."

3. "The Toxic Avenger: Part II" (1988): "This is one of our best. He goes to Japan in this one."

4. "Def by Temptation" (1990): "Samuel L. Jackson is in it -- he plays one of the victims. It's a film in the horror genre, frightening but very, very funny. It does what 'Scream' tried to do, but it was way ahead of 'Scream.' "

5. "Sizzle Beach, USA" (1976): "This was Kevin Costner's first movie, and you can really see the star quality. He plays a wealthy cowboy. It's about young women on the beach in Malibu -- it has an amazing assortment of beautiful women, from the days when if you stepped on a jellyfish, it really was a jellyfish. If you know what I mean."

6. "Cannibal: The Musical" (1996): "This was directed by Trey Parker, who went on to create 'South Park.' Troma is the repository for many cinematic debuts. The movie is about Alferd Packer, the first American citizen to be convicted of eating human flesh. It's a musical like Oklahoma -- it's like a combination of Rodgers and Hammerstein and 'Bloodsucking Freaks.' "

7. "Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD" (1996): "It's about a New York policeman who, by a twist of fate, transforms into a 2,000-year-old Kabuki hero -- with heat-seeking chopsticks. We did this as a co-production with a Japanese company."

8. "Troma's War" (1988): "We consider this to be Troma's masterpiece. I directed it. It has the basic theme of a lot of our movies. It's about a conspiracy of labor, bureaucratic and corporate elites whose purpose is to suck dry the little people of Tromaville. A plane goes down in a remote Caribbean island, where there is a terrorist right-wing training camp. The Tromavillians on board the plane -- a cross-section of citizens -- have to wage war against the terrorists, who assume that they are CIA spies. Everything that makes Troma great is in this movie."

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9. "Class of Nuke 'Em High" (1986): "This concerns the fact that a nuclear power plant has been built a half mile from a high school. The students drink the water and start mutating. It's another commentary on the labor-bureaucratic-corporate elites. It's also my comment on the American educational system. Kids are carrying machine guns to school -- it was actually quite prescient."

10. "Cry Uncle!" (1971): "It's a takeoff on film noir, directed by John G. Avildsen, who went on to do the 'Rocky' films. This was made before Troma, but I'm in it and helped raise some of the money, and we're distributing it."

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